States of Ignorance
Governing Irregular Migrants in Western Europe

Traces how different European states have produced knowledge – and cultivated ignorance – about irregular migrants on their territories.

Christina Boswell (Edited by), Emile Chabal (Edited by)

9781009410151, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 24 July 2025

294 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.429 kg

'When do states pretend they do not see, and from which objects do they avert their gaze? This book compellingly argues that 'ignoring like a state' may be even more fundamental to contemporary governance than 'seeing like a state.' Deeply researched case studies about irregular migration in western Europe significantly enrich our knowledge of that phenomenon, showing how different state bureaucracies develop unique cultures of wilful ignorance. This book is essential not only for scholars of irregular migration but for anyone who studies the modern state.' Lauren Stokes, Associate Professor of History, Northwestern University, Illinois

Much attention has been focused on how states produce knowledge about the people they govern; far less has been written about those aspects of society that states choose to keep obscure. This book makes an original contribution to understanding state ignorance by focusing on one of the most complex and contested social issues of our day: the governance of irregular migrants. Tracing the evolution of state monitoring and control of irregular migrants from the 1960s to the present day across France, Germany and the United Kingdom, the authors develop a theory of 'state ignorance', setting out three complementary ways of understanding such oversights: ignorance as omission, ignorance as strategy, and ignorance as ascription. The findings upend dominant approaches, which tend to assume that states are preoccupied with producing knowledge about their populations, and argues that states have actually been keen to sustain ignorance about their unauthorised populations.

Introduction. Migration control and strategies of knowledge production Christina Boswell
1. States, knowledge, and ignorance Christina Boswell
2. The post-war European state and (irregular) migration: a historical perspective Emile Chabal
3. The invention of illegal immigration: constructing 'clandestine' immigrants in France and the UK Christina Boswell, Sara Casella Colombeau and Emile Chabal
4. (Im)perfect control: the history of the German Foreigners Registry Elisabeth Badenhoop
5. From ignorance to illegalization: the demise of the UK's non-individualized immigration control system, 1962–1971 Mike Slaven
6. Denial, elucidation, or resignation? British and German state responses to unauthorised migrants Christina Boswell and Elisabeth Badenhoop
7. To see or not to see: French regularisation policies and their limits Sara Casella Colombeau
8. European integration and the leap into the unknown Christina Boswell and Sara Casella Colombeau
9. Control infrastructures and ignorance Christina Boswell and Mike Slaven.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB]